EVENT DETAILS

How could America call itself the world’s greatest democracy, but deny the right to vote to more than half its citizens? Why did so many men and women vehemently oppose giving women the vote, and how was this attitude overcome? One Woman, One Vote documents the seventy-year battle for woman suffrage, which finally culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

From Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s electrifying call for women’s rights at Seneca Falls in 1848, to the last no-holds-barred fight in 1920, this film illuminates the story of the alliances that grew into a sophisticated mass movement. To the end, crusaders faced entrenched opposition from men and women who feared that the woman’s vote would ignite a social revolution.

The struggle split the suffrage movement into antagonistic factions. Racism in American mainstream society divided black suffragists from white. And mainstream suffragists severed ties with the militants who chose confrontational tactics, even civil disobedience that landed them in prison, over conventional strategies of education and lobbying. This film portrays the movement’s leaders, among them Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Carrie Chapman Catt, Mary Church Terrell, Anna Howard Shaw, and Alice Paul, who gave their lives to making America a true democracy.

TICKETS

Free as part of our Centennial Summer evenings. Reserve tickets by calling (212) 485-9268 or clicking "Reserve Now" above. Unclaimed tickets will be released ten minutes before the program begins.